One dead in anti-Islam film protest in Pakistan

Islamabad, Sep 21 (IANS) One person was fatally shot while demonstrators set ablaze two cinema halls in Pakistan’s Peshawar city during a protest against an anti-Islam film, police said.

The demonstrators set fire to the two cinemas Friday, a day when Pakistan marked a day of protests against the anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims” that has triggered angry demonstrations around the world.

Protestors damaged the Chamber of Commerce building while in a firing incident on GT Road, an employee of a private TV channel was killed and seven others were injured, Geo News reported.

A cinema guard opened fire, injuring one person, when a crowd armed with clubs and bamboo poles converged on the Firdaus picture house, smashing it up and setting furniture ablaze, police officer Gohar Ali said.

Witnesses said the crowd stormed Shama cinema, smashing windows and setting it afire.

Authorities used shipping containers to block roads leading to the US consulate, the offices of Western aid organisations and other key buildings in the city.

The authorities have also shut down the mobile phone network in 15 cities across the country in an effort to contain the violence.

Violence also took place in Rawalpindi as demonstrators took to the roads leading to capital Islamabad and pelted cars and police with stones and burned down a booth at a toll plaza, said Mohammad Munir, a police official.